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BE STRONG
Near the village of Hse Main Gon in Intago township, Pegu Division, the Panditarama Forest Center has come shining forth. It is nearly seventy acres. Since it is in the country, there is all the natural scenery. It is very, peaceful quiet living. The air is incredibly clean and fresh. Due to a lung condition, the author spent the rainy season of 1358 at the Hse Main Gon Forest Center. "Stay comfortable," Sayadaw said. I am grateful that Sayadaw gave me the chance to take a rest for health's sake. The author's health deteriorated two times while Sayadaw was abroad in 1996. The first time had a fever, vomiting and diarrhea. The second time it was the flu. Both times, because the fever did not break, I had to take antibiotics for about three weeks, in order that the medicine finish its course. Due to the effects of both the fever and the medicine, I wasn't able to regain my strength. Though my throat was raw, I kept vomiting, so my ordination sponsor Daw Khin Saw Nyunt had me get checked out by a doctor, had an X-ray taken, and had me take medicine. Thanks to my ordination sponsor, the disease decreased. I knew that I wasn't well. If it had continued that way, I could have gone around in circles and wasted away.
Realizing how much I might have suffered had I not gotten that chance to rest at the Hse Main Gon Forest Center, it's quite scary. I am so happy that I did get a chance to rest and thus be free of that suffering. I have come to deeply accept and appreciate the doctor's words, "You need to take a rest. You must rest."
It has been a long time that I have wanted to write an account of my benefactor, Sayadaw, at least as much as I am aware of. The opportunity came while I was taking this rest at the Hse Main Gon Forest Center. Before I wrote about Sayadaw, I had to plan out what I would write. I had to spend as much time as I had planning it. When I was strong, I had to think about how I would write it, what I would write about, what information would be included, and so on. If I were at the Shwe Taung Gon Sâsana Yeiktha in Yangon, I would not get an opportunity to write about Sayadaw. With the four or five scripture classes I would have to teach and the Dhamma interviews I would have to do, I would have no time. It couldn't possibly be good for my health, either. At Hse Main Gon, on the other hand, I had time and my health was good. It's calm and quiet there, too. The scenery is good and the air fresh. It's good for taking walks, too. So the planing and the writing was comfortable. Thus, I came to understand personally how much people who want to write need these kind of conditions.
I couldn't help but remember a few words Sayadaw said to the author one time, "If a new meditation center comes to be in Pyin U Lwin (Maymyo, a cool hill-station), if you want to go there and write, U Dhammika, that would fine."
Since Hse Main Gon has arisen before the place at Pyin U Lwin, I have gotten to write in peace there.
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